Off the wire
• German president won't seek second term  • Roundup: Extreme weather causes flood, leaving at least 3 dead in Australia  • Urgent: Airstrikes kill 16 in eastern Syria  • Roundup: European Parliament urges more action on unfair food supply practices  • Roundup: Syrian forces continue to advance in IS de facto capital  • 9.4 mln to sit for gaokao  • Merkel to visit China, co-chair intergovernmental consultations  • District intelligence chief among 7 killed in Afghan attack  • Chinese company applies for feasibility of Nepalese railway: Nepal senior official  • Spain's foreign tourism spending increases by 4.3 pct in April  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: German president says not to seek second term

Xinhua, June 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

German President Joachim Gauck announced here Monday that he would not run for a second five-year term in 2017.

"I have decided not to once again stand for the presidential office. This decision is not easy for me because I consider it a great honor to serve the country," Gauck said in an official announcement at Bellevue Palace in Berlin at noon on Monday.

The 76-year-old said he could not guarantee about whether he will be able to continue devoting enough energy and vitality to the job for another period of five years as he is approaching his eighties.

The president noted that the change at the office was not a cause for concern, but rather democratic normality, because Germany has committed citizens and functioning institutions, even in challenging and difficult times.

Gauck was named the country's head of state in March 2012 when his predecessor Christian Wulff was forced to quit over corruption allegations.

Gauck's term is expected to end in early 2017.

German Bild newspaper has already reported Gauck's possible waiver of another term in office on the weekend, fuelling open speculations over his successor.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as well as Norbert Lammert, President of the Bundestag, and Bavarian conservative Gerda Hasselfeldt have been mentioned as possible candidates to succeed Gauck. Endit